The Common Core curriculum is designed to make students better readers, writers, listeners, and critical thinkers. This volume fulfills that mandate by teaching readers how to assess if an argument’s reasoning is sound and the evidence presented is valid, relevant, and sufficient. Identifying both the strengths and weaknesses of an argument, along with an author’s point of view and possible intentions or agenda, students become better able to separate fact from opinion and reality from spin. They form educated opinions and become better, more persuasive presenters of their own arguments.